Foundation Portfolio - Celeste Adams

Evaluation Script:

1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The shots used in the opening sequence of my film "Sub-Rosa" were inspired by the title sequence of the film "Seven" which depicts a character creating an intricately detailed scrapbook. I hoped that my replication of this iconic cinematic sequence would help to replicate the eerie and unsettling atmosphere of successful films belonging to the thriller and horror genres. The level of detail shown in the scrapbook is a highly effectively method of giving the audience an insight into the mental state of the character being portrayed. In the film "Seven", this sequence clarifies some of the motives of the serial killer, and that he fits into the classification of an "Organised offender", which creates suspense from the very start of the film. Although the opening shots of my media product are less sinister in nature than the ones used in the film "seven", I hoped that this sequence of shots would create a level of suspicion towards the female character shown, as she becomes the main suspect for the series of murders in my film.

When researching the opening sequences of films, I discovered that there is a conventional order of titles:” Studio logo, Studio/Producer presents, Starring (Main Actor), Title of film, Cameraperson, Editor, Composer, Screenwriter, Producer and Director”. I have used this order in my own film’s title sequence to ensure that my own media product has a level of realism and a professional finish to it, by having accurate details such as the order of appearance of a film’s opening titles.

Although the order of my films titles is conventional, I chose to present these titles using two colours in the font, as opposed to the conventional use of one colour for text. I intended that the white and red colours of the titles connote themes of innocence mixed with blood and danger, foreboding the tone and plot of the film

The antagonist of thriller and horror films is usually male, but I have broken this convention by making the main suspect a young adult female who better fits the description of the victims in most horror/ thriller movies. I hoped that breaking this convention would further increase the tension in my film, as female characters are often stereotypically considered to be pure and innocent prey rather than a dangerous predator within this genre.

The music that I chose to have playing over the opening sequence of my film is also conventional in the sense that the eerie tone and minor key of the song appropriately emphasises the unsettling and mysterious atmosphere often created in horror and thriller films. The fact that the music used also has religious connotations also hints to the audience that the murder cases within the film are linked to the secretive occurrences within a religious organisation.

Most protagonists of horror and thriller films are Caucasian males, which my film conforms to by having two young male adults as the police investigators who are dealing with the murder cases in the film.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As I have only created the opening sequence of a film, my actual media product contains a very limited representation of different social groups. This is mainly because I had a limited sample of people to recruit my actors from. Therefore, the female suspect and the two male police investigators are of similar ages (teenagers/ young adults) and Caucasian ethnicities.

The two police investigators in my film represent the differences between representations of age in my film. The character “Brian Smith”, who is the older, more experienced of the two characters, is presented as being more confident and professional due to his superior age than his co-worker “John Miller”. The older police investigator is presented as being superior in confidence and experience as he remains seated at his desk throughout the opening scene and summons his co-worker into his office using a the telephone to contact a secretary. The use of imperatives in the character Brian Smith’s speech and the way that he chastises the younger investigator John Miller for making a comment about the age and gender of the plot’s main suspect suggests a feeling of superiority in the older and higher class character. This representation would appeal to the young adults in my film’s target audience, as they would be in similar positions to the younger John Miller character as they enter the world of independence and a working environment where they may be treated harshly by their superiors who assert dominance over new employees to maintain any status they have built up over time.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The film studio “Universal” might distribute my film as they have been producing horror films since the 1930s and some of their previously released successful films belonging to the thriller and horror genres include “Jaws” (1975), “Crimson Peak” (2015), and “Psycho” (1960).

My film was also greatly influenced and inspired by the opening sequence and plot line of the psychological thriller film “Se7en” (1995). Because of the similarities between my film and “Seven”, my film might be distributed by the media institution “New Line Cinema” who have also released the successful horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) which features similar themes of morality in young adult characters, much like my own film.

My film could also be distributed by an indie film institution with a low production cost as a small cast and very little special effects or CGI is needed to create the psychological horror elements of my film. Low budget productions are often found to be the most effective in the thriller and horror genres, as it adds a sense of realism to the film, heightening the effect on the audience. A good example of an effective low budget horror movie is “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) which only had a budget of $60,000 but produced a box office of $248.6 million.

After its initial release, my film could also be distributed by TV channels such as Film 4 and subscription based streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, as these have increased in popularity over the past few years, and may gain a wider audience after the films initial release in cinemas than it might in DVD sales, which declines as online media begins to replace forms of traditional media distribution.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Films that are similar to my media product such as “Seven” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” gained an “18” rating from the BBFC. However, I think that this rating may be too high for a psychological thriller/ horror film like my own. Therefore, I looked on the British Board of Film Classification’s website to see the criteria for the different classifications to see whether this would affect the audience for my media product. As films like “The Blair Witch Project” that focus on the psychological rather than gory aspects of the horror genre gained a lower rating of “15”, this might be a more suitable rating for my film. According to the statements on the BBFC’s website, my film could even gain a 12a rating “as long as horror sequences are not too frequent or sustained and the overall tone is not too disturbing”.

According to Young and Rubicam's classifications, the target audience for my film "Sub-Rosa" would fit into the demographic of "Explorers who are “seekers of adventure, individualism and discovery”. This is because people who enjoy horror and thriller films are often hoping to experience an adrenaline rush or to have new, unique responses to the themes presented in these genres.

According to the uses and gratifications theory, audiences will actively seek out media products for personal or social gratification, so my film’s target audience would be attracted to my film by the promise of experiencing adrenaline and suspense from the mysteries and unusual events presented in the film’s plot. This may be in order to satisfy a need for excitement and danger in an otherwise ordinary life that the individual may have.

I believe that the main audience for my media product would belong to the Mosaic UK classification of "J41- Disconnected Youth" or "K47- Streetwise Singles” because both of these classifications consist of young adults struggling to find employment after moving out from the family home. This demographic would be the most reliant on using media products for escapism, and would often choose to watch a film belonging to the horror or thriller genre as this creates a sense of excitement and risk that young adults can't easily and safely experience in real life.

However, as shown by my earlier analysis of BFI data on genre and classification, the target audience for horror films is much broader than one might expect. Therefore, the main demographic of the audience for my film "Sub-Rosa" could also include the Mosaic UK classifications "F25- Dependable Me" and "G27- Thriving Independence". The classification "F25" consists of "mature owners" working in intermediate occupations. This older demographic might be more interested in horror and thriller films to satisfy a need for intellectual stimulation with the complex plot lines often involved in mysterious thriller films. This older audience would also have a greater understanding of psychological elements and complex plot developments than young adults, so may be able to greater appreciate any referential codes (Barthes Narrative Codes Theory) within the media text. Both of these classifications would also be less reliant on these genres for escapism, but would have greater expendable income than the classifications of "J41" and "K47", meaning that they would be more likely to spend money on seeing thriller and horror films in the cinema.

According to the social classification system, I believe that the main demographic for my film "Sub-Rosa" would be in the groups "C1","C2" and "D". This is an area classed as lower middle class and upper working class. This range seems like a logical target audience for my film, as they would have enough expendable income to watch movies in the cinema, but would have a certain need for escapism or excitement in a life of regular employment for income, which they may seek from genres such as horror and thriller.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The main attraction of my film is the enigma codes presented in the opening scenes of the film. One of the main reasons why an audience would choose to watch a film belonging to the thriller and psychological horror genres is to be presented with a complex mystery within the film’s plot that would provide mental stimulation and a sense of excitement that might otherwise be lacking in their everyday life.

According to Blumler and Katz’s “uses and gratifications theory” (1974), audiences are active consumers of media products, and select certain media products to satisfy their specific needs. For the audience of thriller and horror products like my film, the attraction would be to satisfy a need to experience adrenaline and to be brought out of their comfort zone, adding new levels of excitement to their life.

An audience might also be attracted to my film because it explores themes of power and safety within society which is an issue closely linked to an adolescent audience’s fears as they enter an adult life of independence.

I tried to address my audience by using actors of the same age as my main target audience demographic in the opening sequence of my film. I hoped that this early introduction of characters belonging to a similar age and ethnicity as my target audience would increase the engagement of my film’s narrative, giving the audience a greater interest and emotional connection with the characters, thus encouraging them to watch the entirety of my media product.

During my research and planning I also created a rough draft of a film poster, which could be used as part of an online advertising campaign to promote my media product, alongside traditional methods of advertising such as displaying this poster in cinemas and on the side of buses. These methods of advertising would first present the enigmas within my film to the audience, attracting them to see the film in order to gain the resolutions of the mysteries within the narrative.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To film the opening sequence of my film I chose to use my own Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V camera instead of the Sony HD cameras provided by my sixth form’s media studies department. This meant that I had greater flexibility when choosing where and when to film, as the cameras provided by the sixth form could only be loaned for short amount of times and used on or near the site of the building. Using my own camera also meant that I had the advantage of not having to learn how to use another device. Instead, I could begin filming, making use of my camera’s functions and settings straight away, without wasting time attempting to learn how to use a new device. As my own camera is also of a similar quality to those offered by my sixth form, my footage still had a relatively high level of quality which made the editing process much easier and more effective than if I had struggled with technical issues from using a different, unfamiliar recording device.

I began the process of editing my footage using the software Adobe Premiere on the computers in my sixth form’s media editing suite. As I was not given the opportunity to edit when working on my preliminary task, this was my first time using this software, and I quickly learned that aspects of my footage that I did not want to use could be removed using the “Razor” tool when the footage is placed on the editing timeline.

One of the issues I had encountered when filming the first scene of my media product was that because I was filming outside on a winter evening, there was a lack of light once the sun had set. This resulted in some of my footage being too dark and of a noticeably poorer quality than the rest of the scene. To resolve this, I learned how to use the effect “fast colour corrector” which allows you to alter the exposure, brightness and key colours of the footage that the effect is applied to. I used this effect in the first edit of my media project to increase the brightness on the scenes filmed with poor lighting, and to give some of my video clips a red tinge in order to add to the eerie atmosphere in the opening sequence of my film.

When editing my footage, in order to ensure that the different shots blended together smoothly and naturally as if they belong next to each other in a sequence, I decided to add “cross dissolve” transitions, which made adjacent shots blend into each other, discreetly making the footage appear to be connected and belong together.

As I was creating the opening sequence of a film, I needed to include the film’s opening title sequence. To achieve this, I inserted titles over particular sections of footage. I quickly learned that to insert a title into an adobe premiere pro project, you have to select “file”, then “new” and finally, “title”. At this stage, the new title could be positioned onto the editing timeline and I could edit the content and style of the text accordingly.

As I later made the decision to add a second scene to the opening sequence of my film, I had to find an effective way of integrating the new scene into the old footage. To do this whilst maintaining the eerie and mysterious atmosphere of my film, I decided to download some stock footage of white noise or static and to use this in-between the shots of the old, first scene, and footage of the new scene with the police inspectors.

The final stage of constructing my product was to upload my video to YouTube. Although I had never uploaded anything to YouTube before, I found this is a relatively straightforward process that only requires you to drag your video onto the uploading screen of your own channel. The most complex aspect of uploading the video was ensuring that I exported my adobe premiere project in a format that is of a relatively small file size in order to minimise uploading time, that is supported by YouTube and that will not compromise the quality of the video.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When working on my preliminary task I experienced multiple issues with unfair work distribution, communication issues and time limits and constraints that resulted in issues regarding meeting deadlines. This led me to make the decision to work alone when creating my final product

Planning and filming my preliminary task taught me the importance of continuity within a film and the importance of conforming to the 180 degree rule, which is a cinematography guideline which states that:

“Two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wX_dmh8_g).

When planning and filming my preliminary task, I learned how to create and integrate a match on action into my footage, to show an item being passed between two characters. I replicated this technique twice in the opening sequence of my film. The fist match on action shows the female character sticking a hand-drawn image of a rose into her scrapbook during the title sequence. The second match on action in my film was more obvious, as it showed the case file being passed between the two police inspectors in the second scene of the opening sequence.

As I worked in a group for my preliminary task, I was not given the opportunity to film or edit any footage for the project, and was left to act in the production. This was far from idea as it meant that I was at a disadvantage when creating my final product. As I had never used adobe premiere pro to edit footage, I had to learn how to use this software as quickly as possible, which drastically impacted the efficiency of my post-production process.

When I went to create second edit of my media production, I needed to locate my old footage from AS to incorporate into the new footage filmed on the 13/01/2017. This created some problems, as the change in technology in the Media editing suite meant that all files created last year were archived in a hard-drive stored in a separate building. This meant that once I had obtained the hard-drive, I had to look through all of the folders on it, only to discover that the file containing my edited footage from last year was saved onto one of the old mac computers that had been removed from the media editing suite, and thus inaccessible. To overcome this problem, I used online file converters to convert the finished first edit of my media project last year on YouTube into an mp4 file that I could then edit alongside my new footage in adobe premiere.

As my old footage was converted from YouTube, this limited the amount I could edit the footage I had filmed last year. As working from this converted footage was more convenient than locating the original video clips at home and postponing the editing process, I had to find a way to incorporate the old footage with the new whilst maintaining the correct order of titles and having continuity across the different font type and styles used throughout the title sequence. Firstly, to create a new title, I had to click on the icon that resembles a dog-eared piece of paper located at the bottom of the section of the screen that displays the imported footage. This allows you to create different items,so by selecting "New Item", and then "Title", I was able to create new titles to go over the new footage and to replace the titles located on old footage that had been cut from the first edit of the opening sequence of my film "sub-rosa".

Above is an example of the Title creation screen. As my new footage introduced two new actors (playing the roles of police investigators"), it was crucial that the new titles matched the style used over the old footage, in order to maintain continuity and a sense of professionalism. I could change the style of the font using the different example tiles at the bottom of the "Title" screen, and the font size and type could be changed using the two drop down menus on the left side of the top toolbar of the screen.

To make sure that the titles remained in the correct order, to comply with the codes and conventions of film opening sequences, I copied a list of the correct title order and kept this on one side of the computer screen when editing, allowing me to cross off the titles once they had been successfully integrated into the second edit of the opening sequence of my film.

To maintain the style of the titles, you can select the option "Duplicate" after right-clicking on one of the other titles, located in the top right section of the screen that contains the imported footage, audio and visuals. Once duplicating the first title I had made to go over my new footage, all that was needed was to edit the text and position, before renaming the title and placing it on the second video track in the editing timeline, over the section of footage I want it to appear on.

Once applied to the area of the timeline that I want the title to appear over the footage at, the length of time that the title would appear on the screen by selecting one end of the rectangle representing the title and moving the ends until the size of the title's representation on the timeline amounts to roughly four seconds.

After the title was made to appear only for four seconds on the screen, I needed to apply transitions to make the titles appear and disappear from the on-screen footage. I did this by selecting the folder entitled "video transitions" under the tab labelled "effects" in the bottom left section of the editing screen. Once opened, a list of different types of transitions appears underneath the "video transitions" folder in the bottom left section of the screen. By selecting the option "dissolves", a further list of dissolve transitions is displayed. As dissolve transitions seem the most natural and least obtrusive effect offered by the options available in adobe premiere, I chose to apply "cross dissolves" to the beginning and ends of most of the footage and titles in my film, simply by dragging them from the bottom left corner of the screen onto the appropriate section of the timeline.